Lawful: Gia ~ Hunter ~ Julian ~ Jarrod

And what a wildcat! I need to get Gia out of my head because dammit it has been a hell of a long time since anyone has given me a boner from just entering a room. What the fuck is wrong with me? I’d gotten a hard-on for someone thirteen years my junior. How ridiculous is that?

Shaking my head, I walk further into the room clearing my throat to make my presence known.

“Sorry to interrupt.” I take the seat that I’m waved into by Jarrod as he himself leans forward in his chair.

“Your meeting didn’t go too well with my daughter this morning, did it?” He laughs. “I have a habit of smothering her. She’s my only child—all that I have. I admit to going overboard with her. She is so like me that it’s frightening to watch her fight back sometimes.” Jarrod meets my eyes. “I love her and I will do everything that I have to do to keep her safe. Whatever you need. You tell me, and I’ll make sure you have it. Anything,” he insists.

I have a feeling he means even beyond the law, but I decide to let it lie for now.

“Colin told me you’ve convinced her it was a random act,” I ask, pausing as Jarrod begins to shake his head.

“That was true when I spoke to him. But Gia was asking a lot of questions last night and she told me point blank that she wasn’t stupid and knew there was something going on. So yeah, I told her that I thought it was someone trying to get back at me for something. I didn’t give her any details but she knows it was deliberate.”

I’m a professional and I’m used to hiding my thoughts, but since I’ve walked into this house I’ve been all over the place. Even now, I can feel the twitch beside my eye start up again. What the fuck is wrong with this place?

Wanting to look casual, I place my ankle over my knee and wait Jarrod out. Jarrod wants to talk, that is obvious to anyone who is a trained observer.

After a long pause, he finally says, “I’m not involved in this anymore, but I was before I accepted the appointment of Judge.” Jarrod leans forward and rests his elbows on the desk before placing his head in his hands. “For over a year I passed information to the feds about what drugs and human trafficking was taking place right in front of law enforcement noses. I haven’t for a while because my contact, Dave, disappeared. I’d known Dave for about six years at the time because of something I’d helped him with, way back when I was starting out. But when he disappeared, I went looking for him and found nothing. I reported his disappearance to the cops and they found him a week later. He’d been dead approximately ten days.”

His eyes fill with caution and maybe a touch of fear?

?probably not for his own safety but for his daughter’s. His voice is full of emotion as he continues, “These guys don’t mess around, which I knew beforehand, but knowing Dave was dead brought it home to me just how dangerous what I was doing really was.” He pauses, breathing deeply.

“Gia is everything. So I used Dave as an out and I’ve been trying to put it behind me—until now. I don’t know for sure that it’s those fuckers who are after me, but I’d put my money on them.”

When he finishes, he sits back in the chair and watches me as though he’s sizing me up—seeing if I’m ready to run. The silence lasts for over five minutes while I process everything I’ve been told. It certainly sounds like a lead in the right direction, but why would they go after Jarrod and his daughter? Why now when he isn’t doing it anymore? Unless?

“Were any arrests made because of the information you passed on?”

I wait and watch Jarrod sigh in resignation, his shoulders slumping.

Nodding his head, Jarrod replies, “Eight girls were rescued and returned to their families and over six hundred thousand dollars in drugs were confiscated. Four of the men were killed when the whole bust went down. Some got away, but three are incarcerated at Beaumont. So yeah, I guess I’m partly responsible for their losses.”

I whistle. It’s very rare for a bust of that magnitude to go down, especially to find those girls before they make it over the boarder.

“Did you have any contact with anyone about the case afterwards?”

Sitting back, Jarrod answers, “No,” and sighs. “I passed on the information and they went from there. Reading between the lines I think they had someone on the inside. But I wasn’t privy to that information.”

Done asking questions for now, I get to my feet and walk with Jarrod out into the foyer. And what a foyer it is. It spoke of the wealth the judge has behind him. The chandelier must have cost more than I make in a year—maybe two.

“I’ll see you later. I’m sure you’ll find me when you have more questions,” Jarrod says, resigned. He holds his hand out to be clasped by mine before he walks off toward the kitchen, disappearing from sight.

I stay where I am, continuing to take in the grandeur of the house. The Carrington’s are in for a shock when the security crew arrives. The security the family has is flimsy at best, the new one going in is state of the art and will detect anyone who shouldn’t be there—all without a time lapse.

The biggest headache that I can see myself having is upstairs in her bedroom. No doubt pissed that she can’t go about her everyday life as a spoiled princess for the foreseeable future.

The file on Gia hadn’t mentioned work of any kind, which tells me she does what she wants on her father’s credit card. I can’t put up with people like that, and I don’t really understand how parents let their kids get away with it. Whatever happened to letting them learn how to fend for themselves?

Rubbing my neck in agitation, I place a foot on the stairs and glance up to the second floor where the wildcat’s bedroom is. There’s no better time than the present to face the lioness in her den. As I take the first resigned step, bells start going off seconds before the housekeeper walks to the front door.

My ears are still ringing.

As I look toward the door, I notice Jarrod leaning against the entrance to the kitchen with his eyes on the front door.

Maria opens the door and two attractive young girls walk in, hug Maria before they stop dead when they spot me glaring at them.

“You must be the pig-headed man. I’m Parker and certainly wouldn’t mind having you as a bodyguard.” She doesn’t offer a handshake, but bats her eyelashes instead, which causes an unexpected chuckle to burst from between my lips.